All right. Answer me this: Should one expect the sail and mast to fit completely into the long bag? If the bag appears to be six inches short, what is the likely culprit? I have already checked the sleeve between upper and lower masts: wild horses couldn't budge them. My wife thinks the bag shrank in the rain on the way home. What's the problem with this bag?

His issue is that the cover seems to have shrunk. We had not heard that before.

I don't believe our quality control is slipping, but our business is becoming much more complicated than it was years ago. The product line and accessory offerings is much more extensive. It is very hard to avoid the occasional hiccup.

My assembled mast measures 19-5/8". I used the gray long Hobie bag several times and it was several inches longer, and easily pulled over the assembled mast and drew together easily with the draw string.

The other night it got caught in the rain on the way home. The next day I took it off and hung it to dry, while I dried the sail. When I put the bag back on, it seemed like it shrank. It would no longer fit over the base of the mast. It now measures 18'-11-1/2". It only reaches to the rivets in the mast base.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back on this, Matt. To be frank, I'd given up on it. Of course, the mast is just a hair over 19 feet, but the shrunken bag is just 18 feet, 6 1/2 inches. I recall that my dealer in San Diego really had to stretch it to get it to cover the mast for the trip home. Then we drove through quite a lot of rain. His factory contact was a man named Jacque, I believe. Know him? I'll try the wet 'n' stretch strategy. Sure wish someone would step up on this.

Hobie definitely has an interesting problem with the mast bag. After two sailing trips from Tucson, Arizona to San Diego and back, I can assure you that the mast bag (lying crushed and damp in the back of the truck) in San Diego stretches easily to cover the full length of the mast. Exposed to the heat and dryness of the Imperial Valley, it quickly begins to shrink, and by the time we reach the Arizona border, it's six to eight inches shorter. It stays that way in its desert home until the next trip west to the coast where I can expect it to expand again. It's about the only problem I've had with the Bravo. I love the little cat.

I just got my new bravo last week. I picked it up in Clearwater, Fl. Drove through rain on my way to Ft. Myers. After the cover had dried while sailing, I could not get it to fit again. The next morning we had a lot of dew and I checked the cover and since it was damp from the dew, I had an inch or two to spare. Fit great. Very interesting.